Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Every time she comes back home from her Mandarin class, I check what new vocabularies she learnt. I know most Chinese speaking children are probably onto their thousandth vocabs by her age, but I'm not in any hurry at all. Hey, we have a lifetime of learning opportunity, everyone at their own pace thank you.

I'm no tiger moms and I see no point in trying to push your child to do the things they don't want because they came here with their own plus and minuses that is essential for their own mission.

Saturday, 27 October 2012

Another year has passed in the witch's year. Halloween is the witch's new year. Originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain when people make bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. Over the centuries it has become a secular event characterised by candies and costumes.

Although there's no walkabout for this little girl, we made a project to make a glamorous witch's hat.

Method:
This is probably not the best way, but it works for a one off hat.
Take the diameter of the child's head. Draw a larger one outside depending how droopy you want the hat.
Make flaps so you can just tape them to the cone later.

Cut half a circle, the radius should be how high you want the hat to be.

Tape the middle of the half circle which will be the point of the hat, this is to prevent it from ripping when you start twisting to make the cone.

Working from inside, start joining the flap to the half circle, easier to use the tape rather than the glue gun.

Thursday, 6 September 2012

It is the season of change again and here is another postcard from ever changing face of nature in New Zealand.

"Spring rain has been in abundance; dark, rolling masses unfolding from the west and the cold that often comes with it..the storms of change, strong winds and battering rains but it's a time of change for all living things isn't it? Two blackbirds are mating in my garden now unperturbed by it all it would seem and yesterday a tired pigeon came into the shelter of my garage to die in a warm corner of its choosing but I foolishly sent it back outside before I realised what it really wanted. It's lack of energy to escape was my clue and I didn't read it well. Story of my life it would seem. I don't read clues.The pale-eyed, grey clad armies of winter huddle around now smokeless fires ushering in the triumphant, blazing reds and golds and brilliant greens of spring. Truly every season is wonderful and you and I are still above the ground to see them. How lovely for us both."
Indeed, every changes brings their own loveliness. Even the slightest shift in one mind's paradigm can bring out the brightest light from within.
More of this to come later, but now, lets thank the season of change.

Saturday, 18 August 2012

You'll notice when you have kids that they sometimes say the strangest thing that makes your eyes pop out, or tickle your ribs so hard it makes you laugh, or makes you touch your forehead because it is so mind boggling to say at their age.

At 4 years old, on her dinner:

"Mmm, the macaroni is bubbling deliciously in the pot."

At 3 years old, on her drawing:

"The mice on ice are doing somersaults."

At 4 years old, she sings:
"They say I'm just drama, but every bubbles got to pop!"

At 6 years old, on her math quiz:
"This is a piece of cake, so give me a piece of meat!"

At 6 years old, out of nowhere she blurted out:
"I wish I could have a virgin birth."
I went: "Whuattt? Wwwhat do you mean?"
She goes: "Having a kid without marrying someone."
I asked: "Where did you read about that?"
She answered: "Nat Geo!"
I thought, oh it must have been about the Virgin Mary story.
So I asked: "Why would you want to give birth to a child?"
She declared: "Well I want to have a little assistant for myself!"
So I searched for my forehead and slapped it hard!
The whole time she never stopped doing her homeschool grade 1 math......aiyayaii

Monday, 6 August 2012

Ok, I get it, so she transitions her drawing from stick figures to fleshy leggy girls.
Kind of what's happening in fashion now isn't it? Get rid of the anorexic bulimic girls and replace them with healthier looking ones.
Can you see the one in between the middle cut off line? Stick thin legs and fleshy arms, LOL!

Friday, 3 August 2012

When you get to a certain age, you tend to stick with what works for you. For example, if a certain style of shirt looks good on you, then you would probably buy the same style shirts in different colours.
Then there's the extreme (this happens when you get a bit older), you found a style that brings out what's left of your best, and then you buy two or three of it, just in case one got into an "accident" (i.e. your child decides to do arts and crafts, on you), IN THE SAME COLOUR! Lol.
Sadly I've fallen into the latter category. Especially if thrown into a SALE situation. Lets move on.....

What you'll need:

-T-Shirt (preferably you have an extra copy of it, just in case you mucked it up)

-Flowy fabrics that is long enough to go around your hips 4 times (because the tighter the gather, the prettier it'll look)
-If your fabric is see through under the sunlight like mine, you'll also need an inner skirt. Here I use an inner skirt from an old tired skirt and I simple measure the length that I need and leave the seam, voila, half done already)

Method:
- unpick the T-Shirt's seams and tidy up the bits that are not straight
- cut your fabric that is meant to be for the skirt into whatever length you desire (extra short or long it's up to you)
- if your fabric is see through when you hold it against the light, then you better sew in some linings, this lining does not have to be gathered and nice to have a stretchy lining so it won't limit your movement. Just measure the lining up against the T-Shirt's circumference and the length of the lining against the length of the flowy fabric.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, I was too eager that I rushed to finish everything and forgetting the step by step pictures.
- If you're like me and like to use up old tired clothes from your past life (typo: season), then get a lining from an old skirt and just measure up from the seam. Mark the length and cut.
- Leave the lining's seams (lazy person's advice)
- Do a loose stitch on the fabric you want to gather, then pull the thread underneath so the fabric gathers
- Stack the gathered fabric, the lining and the T-Shirt (wrong side up), pin them and sew. Serge to finish. (This step was excruciating for me since my fabric was very slippery and I had to use a tweezer to help me since ironing it didn't help either. Moral of the story: avoid satin unless you're on a holiday).
- If you're like me, I tend to just finish the edges of skirt with serger. Yes, another lazy advice.
- Voila!

Now, who said I was getting old because I buy duplicate of things? I have a T-Shirt and T-Shirt with a little skirt attached to it :)

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

It is one difficult thing to master the Chinese language. Try to do that when a million of other things are in your head. Hence the word "head" for this little girl to write. I wonder why the teacher was so angry and my little girl came crying to me...

Now I reckon it is a bit hieroglyphic-y and graphic way to write "head". Off she goes to do another batch...